Inference and Implication from a Lightning Observation

Abstract

Lightning safety is a global issue. Lightning causes deaths and injuries to humans and livestock and damages property. General public should have the knowledge of protection from a lightning-strike so that life and property losses are kept to a minimum. The earth receives about 100 lightning every second and every year lightning kills more people than tornadoes and hurricanes and most of these deaths take place in open fields near or under trees or around water. Holle (NLSI, 2012) reported about 24,000 lightning-struck deaths and about 240,000 lightning-struck injuries globally every year (Al-Abdulaziz et al., 2006; Coleman, 1993;Demirkol et al., 1999;Djalel et al., 2007;Halasa et al., 2007;Khan et al., 2002;Koopman and Wilkerson, 1971;Meredith et al., 2010a;2010b; Odeh, 2009;Petersen et al., 2008;Rambo et al., 1999;Saum and Koopman, 1972;Stolzenburg and Marshall, 2008). National Geographic News reports (Dell' Amore, 2010) of more lightning victims than snow storms, hurricanes and tornadoes. Only floods can supersede this figure for lightning. Lightning-related injuries range from severe burns and permanent brain damage to memory loss and personality change.Lightning is a neutralization of electric charge in which positive and negative charges from separate locations combine. This neutralization can happen between two parts of the same cloud, two different clouds, and clouds and the ground. Lighting is a momentary event whose details are not commonly observed. It occurs in cumulonimbus clouds. The condition for lightning is the creation of positive and negative charges separated in two parts of a cumulonimbus cloud. It is believed that the charges develop through friction. The layer of positive charges resides above the layer of negative charges in the cloud. Abstract: Lightning is a dangerous natural phenomenon which cannot be replicated artificially because of the enormous strength of the event. Its observation reveals information on why a particular object and not others on the ground will be hit. It is observed that lightning hits tall towering trees, animals, metal objects, animals carrying metal objects, electric wirings, plumbing lines, etc. Date trees, coconut trees, and palm trees are all alike. The lightning incident described here finds a small date tree is more favorable than other much taller trees of the same family and metal-capped tall temples when all these potential subjects are present in a congested place. This favoritism is likely due to the sap-abundance in date trees. Also, it shows that side flashes in the form of whitish patches of light from around the lightning-hit spot can travel over long distances across water bodies. The patches of white flash give burning sensation on the skin. It reinforces the conclusion that side flashes from lightning can jump/fly from the lightning spot to try to pass through human or other animal subjects to the ground. So, it is not safe to stand near or under a tree or near a water body during lightning. Overpopulated agricultural tropical countries like B...